The Interdisciplinary Approach of Some Middle Bronze Age Pottery from Eastern Romania

Prehistoric pottery is the most abundant material discovered in archaeological sites and represents the main element of knowledge about human communities from the past. This study presents a model of interdisciplinary investigation of pottery through several types of analyses, enabling the scientific study of this category of artifacts. The analyses were performed on 11 ceramic fragments from the Middle Bronze Age settlement of Piatra Neamț–Lutarie, Eastern Romania, considering information about the color, production technique, type, size, functionality and category of the vessel, but also data related to ceramic paste inclusions. The samples were studied by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and micro-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (µFTIR). The results obtained provide important information regarding pottery manufacturing technologies, such as sources of the raw materials and firing temperatures, and revealed the functionality of various vessel categories within a prehistoric settlement.